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West Athens homicide victim ID'd

Police hoping name brings calls

Athens-Clarke police have released a tentative identification for a woman found dead in a West Broad Street apartment in hopes those who know her will contact detectives investigating her murder.

Pamela Crisler, 49, a mental health and substance abuse counselor, was found dead Aug. 21 in apartment 408 of College Place apartments. Police are looking for friends and patients of the woman who may have last been seen alive about Aug. 16.

Crisler (pronounced Criss-ler) was staying in the apartment of 51-year-old Charles Elam, a self-employed construction worker who went out of town Aug. 6 on a business trip, according to his statement to police. Elam has not been named as a suspect in her death.

''They had met and become friends, and Mr. Elam had allowed her to stay at his apartment while she was seeking full-time employment,'' Capt. James Williams said. ''At that particular time she was seeing some people for counseling on a private basis.''

Police said Crisler moved to Athens from Douglasville about a year ago to find work in the health care field, applying to The Bridge, a now-defunct Athens facility for troubled youth. She had moved around to several locations before taking up residence at Elam's home, Williams said.

Detectives are looking into whether any of the people who she counseled may have been in the apartment where her lifeless body was found on a bedroom floor, bloodied and clothed only in underwear. There was no sign of forced entry and the apartment appeared to have been locked from the outside.

The body was in an advanced state of decomposition when resident managers investigating a foul odor discovered it and notified police.

Police have not released the cause of death, citing the ongoing investigation. Police are still awaiting DNA test results for a positive confirmation of the body's identity, but this week received approval from Crisler's family to release her name.

''We've talked to several people who have had some form of contact with her, and we want to talk to anyone else who may have had contact with her,'' Williams said.